Bad Moon
by punklike
Summary: She's pitied him since the beginning. Watching as over and over he was chosen to fight against creatures that made even her skin crawl. Nobody deserves to live like this, and she knows that, deep down, she's going to end up doing something reckless to free him. (Cross posted on AO3.)


She's pitied him since the beginning.

The yautja fighter that everyone seems to be talking about when they come to Shizzo's cage fights. Fights that match, supposedly, the deadliest creatures against one another; pitting them against each other for the amusement of the patrons as they bid on possible winners. She pities him because he's proven his merit in the ring, taking down every opponent set against him no matter the odds. A creature with bigger claws than his, bigger teeth, more eyes, even more limbs - it doesn't matter, he's always winning. And that, of course, makes Shizzo happy. Brings the sleazy owner to smirk and collect the money of those who, unfortunately, bid wrong; all he gets out of this whole arrangement is a shock collar around his neck and more scars. She pities him because she knows that he's Shizzo's way to the top of the food chain, monetarily speaking, and there's nothing that Shizzo won't do to make sure it stays that way.

It's why Gesa flinches at the loud roar the vibrates through the club, brown gaze locked on the standoff in the ring. Shizzo's cage fights take place in a decently large, round club; the interior decorated in plush leather, couches and seating for the patrons to lounge on. A bar and bidding place stationed in the back, so that these patrons can, not only bid for blood money, but also get drunk off their asses while doing so. The only difference in the club is that, instead of the usual music and dance floor, there's an underground pit in the middle of the place. It's this which brings people to the club; hungry for the possibility to see violence and the gore that comes with. Not only that, but the club is primarily run by women - Shizzo only employs women, thinks that there's nothing better than booze, women, and a good fight - with the exception of the owner and the six bouncers stationed throughout the club. With a fence surrounding the pit, the fence bends inward and is topped with nasty looking taser guns that are mounted in four places - no actual lethal weapons, Shizzo can't risk losing an investment. The fact that Gesa's had to hear him refer to these fighters as such brings a bitter taste to her mouth. Another roar erupts and she's pulled out of her thoughts, gaze refocusing on the fight below. The yautja is standing off with a Xwe - standing on two legs with four arms, the Xwe stands at six feet tall with razor sharp claws lining each arm's hands. A barbed tail with a point reminiscent of a scorpion, the Xwe is able to paralyze and even poison their victims with a single scratch. Finally, the curved horns on the Xwe's head that are typically used to impale their prey after paralyzing them; then finally consumed by their slathering, drooling jowls. Gesa watches, along with the captivated audience, as the yautja's arms spread wide in an invitation for the creature to make the first move. Gesa has seen this tactic many times - he scrutinizes the prey set out before him, calculating the best course to take in order to swiftly and lethally take it down. She assumes it must be a nuance for his species since she's only ever seen him do it; though, she supposes, calculation isn't the first thing any of these other creatures are thinking about when they're released - survival being the only thing that matters in Shizzo's pit.

Shifting the tray with empty drinks in her hand, Gesa watches captivated as everything begins to get faster.

* * *

The Xwe throws its head, nostrils flaring as it finally whips its tail at the yautja. Where once the yautja stood, a layer of dust kicks up as the Xwe's tail lands. The yautja is fast and that's what pleases the audience; the way he's able to duck and expertly avoid the Xwe's relentless attacks without even breaking a sweat. It's obvious he's used to this kind of action, possibly even bored with what he's doing what with the way he steps back just in time before a pair of claws could be embedded in his chest, or a strike of a tail can be lashed against him. Only when the Xwe begins to slow down its advancement, takes a moment to recuperate from its barrage of attacks does the yautja strike. Teeth bared with mandibles flaring, the yautja takes a running start before kicking the ground to launch himself in the air, leg swinging out till it connects with the creature's jaw - clawed toes raking against its flesh. The bellow that erupts from the creature's chest lets the yautja know that his attack landed perfectly. With feet firmly planted on the dusty, blood stained floor, the yautja once again spreads his arms and roars his challenge. Kill that which seems to be unkillable. The Xwe bares its own teeth, brings its body hurtling towards the yautja with arms likewise splayed out wishing to grasp onto any part of its opponent and tear them limb from limb. The yautja waits till his opponent is close, uncomfortably close, before ducking out of reach of its arms and swiping his claws across its lower belly. Blood erupts and falls on the ground, another angry cry leaving the Xwe. A red, beady gaze follows his opponents movements; savors the way in which the blood streams from its belly and across its jaw. Not quite a worthy opponent, but it will do. They have been getting lazy with acquiring him actual challenges, but his lust for fighting hushes him against any complaints. It's not the hunt, but he will enjoy it all the same.

He doesn't have to wait long for the next attack, a barb tail races through the air towards him and he rolls out of the way, but he still feels the tell tale feel of a barb grazing across his flesh. The sting of it means nothing to him, but he knows that he has to end this quickly or face dying at the hands of the Xwe.

Already, he feels his foot teetering on the precipice of numbness - gait awkward as he whirls on his heel away from another attack, claws slicing at the offending arm circling its way towards him. Having only his bare hands and feet to defend himself, he's learned long ago that his vicious audience enjoyed the exhilaration and savagery that came with beating an opponent to death with ones bare hands. Naturally, the yautja feels the same sentiment; relishing in his hands being covered in his opponents blood, innards strewn around his body as he roars his victory, alas having his spear would be good. Then he could have the satisfaction of running it through the Xwe's hurt, listening to the blood burbling in its throat before it collapsed before him. Its head his trophy, its blood seeping into the ground a reminder that the predator always wins. Another swipe of the creature's tail across his back, and the yautja clenches its fist as he unsuccessfully ducks away. Can hear the roar of the crowd along with the pounding in his ears - knows that piece of cjit Shizzo will have his shock collar running for Paya knows how long as punishment for embarrassing him. The thought alone is enough of an energy boost to keep him moving, let the blood circulate in his veins before the paralysis sets in. But the Xwe waits now, knows that its poisons are sinking in fast and it won't be long before it can simply bite his head off. As if he's going to let that happen.

Huffing out a breath, red eyes stare murderously at the Xwe. There is nothing to lose but his life now.

Running the best he can with a numb leg - tread feeling heavier, awkward - he launches himself at the creature, guttural roar following suit as he flies through the air and right into the arms of the creature. Its claws tear into his back, rend flesh to ribbons and he knows his luminescent, green blood is flowing steadily down mingling with all the other blood on the floor. But the numbness has set in there too, and he has nothing to lose. Spreading mandibles, he issues another roar in the creature's face as both their lives teeter on the precipice. The Xwe digs its claws deeper, relishing the blood the squelches, pops and drips over its claws. It knows it will win, it will survive! It bares its own jaws at the creature before it, mouth spreading wide to roar back as it raises its tail to pierce through the yautja's chest. Finish the yautja off for good.

But then everything stops, its tail falters, spasms before slowly dropping as its claws slowly release the yautja's flesh.

* * *

Gesa's eyes widen at the sight before her, so sure that after every tiring thing the yautja had to go through that he'd finally been beaten down, but she watches with a hand raised against her mouth as the yautja tears the Xwe's throat out. Viciously slamming its mandibles into the tender flesh of the creature's neck, rendering it to pieces and spitting them out to land on the pits floor. The action makes her want to gag, yet she finds it in herself to keep the contents in her stomach, albeit miserably. She shouldn't be surprised, after all, Shizzo made all the combatants fight bare handed, most especially the yautja, but she never thought that he'd come to tearing his opponent's throat out - definitely not so savagely. She's too focused on watching him, watching the blood pool further on his body and around his mouth. Gesa holds her breath as he roars his victory, the patrons around her going wild with excitement at the carnage wrought before them. She hates them all. Hates that they derive satisfaction from the suffering of these creatures, and hates that she's the only one who gives a damn about what happens to them.

Of course she's glad he's made it out alive, but it doesn't stop her from pitying the creature that is steadily bleeding to death in the pit below her. She wants to gouge Shizzo's eyes out. She wants all of them to be free.

Knowing that she'll be disciplined if she stays any longer in one spot - though Gesa's sure it doesn't matter now, she all but stayed for the entirety of the fight ignoring the calls for more drinks from the sleazy guests - she wanders back to the bar, gently placing the dirty cups in their appropriate places before retrieving the fresh drinks. Plastering a fake smile on her lips, she dutifully glides from one guest to the next, distributing drinks and taking unsolicited comments along the way.

If she could leave, she would. But that's the thing about Shizzo's club, once you're in you can never leave. Even more so is true for her and the rest of the women, they're all but stuck with Shizzo until the very end and it makes her nauseous. For all intents and purposes, he bought them too, and they owe him for that as he likes to remind them. Drills in into their heads that they're lucky all they're doing is serving the guests drinks and nothing else ... unsavory. Gesa wants to gouge Shizzo's eyes out, but instead she smiles a smile that never meets her eyes. After dropping off her last drink, Gesa inches closer to the fence and peers down at the yautja. The Xwe is clearly dead now, but her heart goes out for the other as his own body lies pliant on the floor, the paralysis having finally fully kicked in. His discomfort at being vulnerable is all but palpable, Gesa knows that all he has left is his guard, and now even that's been stripped of him. She also knows that Shizzo is going to punish him tonight for the simple fact that the creature got two hits on him. Shizzo can't let his primary source of income think that he can get away with something as awful as that.

Shifting, the hairs on her neck and arms stand on end as the feeling like someone is watching her sets in. Brown eyes shift until they're looking into red ones, can see the hatred that burns in them. His hate for everyone is smothering and she feels so overwhelmed by it, like she can't breathe. She can't hold his gaze any longer, doesn't want him to see the pity in her eyes because she knows, if nothing else, that he'd rather die than have someone pity him. But she does, her heart aches for him.

And Gesa knows that, foolishly, she's going to try and help him.

* * *

Gesa knows that she can't stop now, feet taking her to her destination that'll grant her access to the yautja. She doesn't know how he'll react to her presence, but she's hoping that it doesn't include him ripping out her throat either.

It wasn't simple getting the remote to his shock collar, but she managed it, barely. Of the six bouncers, the head bouncer is given an identical remote to the one that Shizzo carries; the yautja is, fortunately, the only one wearing a shock collar and thus easy to find what she needed. The next part was retrieving the device. Waiting till the club was closed, and Shizzo was satiated with everything, Gesa waited till he made his way to the lower bowels of the club to confront the yautja on tonight's fight. She knew that Shizzo would torture the yautja for approximately an hour before stopping; after all, he considered himself a merciful man - an hour of torture is generous, a simple warning. Meanwhile, that left Gesa ample enough time to try and win over the head bouncer. Not necessarily a rough guy, Gesa simply avoided the bouncer's at all cost. Reasoning that, if she never interacted with them then there would be no reason for her to be on their bad side. That isn't to say that they don't know who she is, they know all the girls, but that they have no personal beef with her. It was, surprisingly, exciting to use her charms on the head bouncer; play coy and siddle up into his personal space - make it off as if she just wants some company, some reassurance that the big bad monsters won't get her. The guy played right into her hand, getting cozy with her, but it gave her the opportunity to slip her hand into his pocket and swipe the control. He wouldn't notice, really, too busy grumbling to himself that she's a tease.

Men, Gesa's concluded, can stick it.

Now, with the device in hand, it brings her to her current destination: the bowels of the pit. Bringing her arms in close to her chest, remote clutched between her palms, she shivers at the drafty air that kisses her flesh. Her current attire isn't appropriate for the cold: reminiscent of a one piece bathing suit that horribly rides up her ass - one day she's going to choke Shizzo with the skimpy piece - the material is black with a shimmer to it almost as if looking at the stars reflecting in the sky. Circling her waist is a pseudo-ring of stars, like a play on the rings surrounding Jupiter, it doesn't touch her, but shimmers and beckons all to see. The stars shimmer, but aren't able to be touched since they're not really there. It only forms when she and the other girls wear the belt specially designed for that appearance. The belt is a simple black, tied about her waist and a mocking gesture that she's as free as the stars. She wishes, oh how she wishes.

Quietly, tip toeing her way through the tunnel, she eyes the cages set at her left and right noticing their lack of occupants. Of course she knows why - he's practically killed them all, and for those that haven't been killed yet, she avoids vehemently. Only when Gesa starts to get to the end of the tunnel does her pace slow even more considerably. This was a stupid idea! What was she doing? She's going to get herself killed!

Sigh. Curse her and her bleeding heart.

Gesa steps in front of his cage and lets her eyes adjust to the low lighting - notices the huddled figure all but licking his wounds in the corner of the cage. He looks horrible, and her heart pangs all that much more. Releasing the breath she was holding, she timidly steps closer to the bars and knows that he knows she's there by the stiffening of his shoulders, and the low rumble starting in his chest. Quickly, she raises her hands in a gesture of peace, taking a step back to give him more room. "I - I'm not going to hurt you," she says, and immediately regrets the foolishness of stating it in the first place. As if she had the capability of hurting him, but she had to say something, anything. Gesa notices then that the rumbling stops, and instead a trilling noise takes its place. Why is she not surprised that he's laughing at her.

"Can't hurt. Too small. Too..." he pauses, clicks his mandibles as he thinks for the right ooman word. "Exposed."

Her face flushes at that, scowl crossing features at his words. Yeah, because she asked to dress like this clearly. "Listen, pal, you're not exactly trying to hide anything either," she grumbles and her face flushes a deeper red as the trilling starts up again. Nice, he's not only vicious but has a horrible sense of humor too. Taking a deep breath, Gesa steps closer to the bars of the cage once again, notices too, that it looks like he's moved closer. "Your collar," Gesa starts and squirms as she really gains his full attention, watches as red gaze flickers attentively to her. Holding up the remote she snatched, she tries for a soft smile, "I can remove it... temporarily...since Shizzo will know otherwise, but..." she stops, takes a deep breath, and desperately hopes that her eyes are conveying what she's feeling, what she's really trying to say. "I can remove it so, just for a little, we can pretend like we're not stuck in this shit hole." Suddenly, ever so quietly, a clawed hand shoots out to snatch her wrist, shaking her from her reverie as she stares in horror at the tightening hand around her wrist. Watches in even more horror as she's tugged against the bars, and quickly relieved of the remote. He releases her, and subsequently releases the collar from around his neck. Feels the satisfaction of hearing the heavy metal fall to the floor. Gesa watches as he straightens his shoulders, rolls his head and lets dreadlocks sway across his shoulders.

Taking one look at her hand, then the remote in his and the collar on the floor, she starts to panic. "Hey, hey! Please, give it back, Shizzo will know it's missing and then he'll be mad. He'll ... He'll..." Words dying off the tip of her tongue because how is she supposed to convince this yautja, who has been forced to fight for his life day after day, to give up the object to his freedom. She knows he feels that same sentiment with the look he gives her.

"I know you want to get out of here and rip him to shreds. Believe me, I want to do the same, but... you... we have to be smart about this." Because that's the point of this whole adventure, isn't it? She's going to try and free them from this hell hole. "You're fast, strong, and really, really scary," she pointedly ignores the snort he makes at that, "but Shizzo is vicious too and you make him a load of money. Not to doubt your skills or anything but, it's you against him, and he's not going to let his source of income go so easily."

Gesa can see that her words are affecting him; watches as his fists clench and unclench as she keeps on talking. He's considering what she's saying, and that's all that matters. He's angry and she gets it, she really fucking does, but he'll be torn to pieces if he even thinks about just walking out of this place. And deep down, Gesa doesn't want all this effort gone to waste; she wants them both to be alive and watch as everything that is Shizzo be burned to pieces, and she definitely wants it to be them who lights the fire. Her heart pounds in her ears, and she hopes that he'll listen to sense, that his anger won't be the winner in this battle of common sense.

Without speaking, he raises his hand with the remote towards her and Gesa reaches for it... only to have her wrist caught again and the remote snatched back to his side. She gulps, gazes into red, questioning eyes as he cocks his head at her, observes and calculates her intentions. Gesa should be scared of him, she is, but not that he'll hurt her. He may be a yautja, not the most pleasing creatures to the eye, and the first time she saw him she did flinch a few times at his face before steadily getting used to it. Of course it's scarier up close than simply seeing it race around the fighting pit, but how can she be scared of a being that has done nothing to harm her versus a man that holds her against her will, and makes her dress ridiculous at that. Sure, he's hideous in a conventional beauty sense, but he's not the monster here.

"Why?" He asks, and it shocks her out of her thoughts. Why, what? That she's decided that she doesn't want to watch him fight day after day until there's nothing left, and eventually he's killed. Or that she's somehow grown a soft spot for him unknowingly and know feels ever so compelled to make something of it. There's so many why's, but she hopes what she gives him will do.

"Because you're not an animal. You're not an animal that should be caged up for entertainment so these rich bastards can come in and gawk at you. Bid in these fights as you fight to the death. It's disgusting, and... and... I've had enough, okay." He says nothing for a long time, only the sound of her gentle breaths being the mediator between the two of them. Finally, quietly, "Kwei'dhi'ki-de." Her brows scrunch together at that, watches as he relinquishes her wrist, handing her the remote, before he spreads that palm across his chest, indicating himself. She nods, and returns the gesture, all the while a shy smile curves the corner of her mouth, "My names Gesa."

Kwei gives a curt nod; returns his gaze at the collar before his feet. Kicks at it so it moves a few inches across the dirt floor, returns red gaze back to the female before him. He'll go along with what she's proposing - he's been itching to tear Shizzo's head off his shoulders.

"Just promise me one thing before we eventually leave this place." Kwei tilts his head in her direction, indicating he's listening. "Let me finish Shizzo off after you kick his ass, okay?" Gesa can't help the small laugh that falls from her lips, despite the seriousness of the situation at hand. Planning an impromptu escape? When did she get so bold! Still, butterflies find themselves in her stomach at the trill that follows at her words. Feels her stomach get even fuzzier when Kwei nods his consent to the terms.

It seems they're now unspoken partners in crime.


End file.
